If you haven't watched the movie - and you should - this soundtrack will still send a sparkling laughter through you. Okay, maybe it's just me, but that's what it does to me. This soundtrack is amazing, because it makes Elvis fun all over again.

I know I'm ancient when I see my kiddie granddaughter hugging her teddy bear and dancing stupidly to the King's Stuck On You. Heartbreak Hotel is still cute, as is Hound Dog, and it's more fun when I imagine Stitch in that adorable Elvis hair and suit doing his thing. It's embarrassing to admit this, but I think Stitch is cuter than the real deal himself. Other Elvis tracks here include Suspicious Minds and Can't Help Falling In Love, although the last is covered by the atrocious teenybopper group A*Teens. The A*Teens' version is predictably horrific, and I can't wait for them to grow up and join the rank of pop has-beens. Wynonna's version of Burning Love is good, though.

While bopping my head and giggling with my grandchildren as we watch that adorable movie, this soundtrack does one thing that's good: it reminds me just how fun Elvis' music can be. The whole commercialized exploitation of his death has rendered me insensate to his music, but with Stitch and this soundtrack gently guiding me back, I think I'll dust off my old tapes and play a few Elvis stuff for the old days' sake.

But long after Elvis' blistering presence has left the hotel, Mark Keali'i Ho'omalu's Hawaiian folk-tinged Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride and the enchanting He Mele No Lilo will remain always on my mind, and I will do a happy twirl as I hum along to the cute, cute tracks. No, not cute: He Mele No Lilo is the perfect happy song for the inner child in me. I usually cannot stand children singing, but the Kamehameha Schools Children's Chorus has me jigging along. Simultaneously delightfully kiddy and the best of pop/folk music, He Mele No Lilo is worth the price of this CD alone.

The movie brings out the inner child in me, but this CD celebrates it. I feel like a carefree, gaily child all over again, damn life's incessant lil' hiccups and problems, and I want to kick off my shoes and run around giggling like an exuberant maniac as this soundtrack plays in the background. I want to hug fat doggies and sing the chorus of He Mele No Lilo along with their howling. My husband says it's menopause turning me into Kathy Bates. Fine one to say, that man, he is scouring toy stores for a Stitch plushie and he was humming He Mele No Lilo himself as he was shaving this morning.

Did I mention the really cute CD sleeve artworks?

For an album that actually drives home the meaning of fun, this baby is worthy every cent I paid for it. Now all that will make my cheeriness perfect is my own Stitch. Or failing that, a Stitch plushie. I wonder if my husband has checked the Suntec City Toys R Us yet. Hmm.